Ringtones So Easy A Caveman Could Do it....

I first met the GEICO Caveman at a party at SXSW in 2008.  I was immediately struck by his charm and good looks, as were many others at the party including Robert Scoble and Mashable's Pete Cashmore (see the picture I took below).  Since that chance meeting with the Caveman, I have been very impressed by GEICO's ability to manage three very distinct, equally entertaining and effective branding campaigns at the same time.  In addition to the readily recognizable Neanderthal, GEICO's plucky Gecko and wide-eyed wad of MONEY are also fun, friendly and powerful bits of branding for the Insurance giant.

GEICO Gets It...

Clearly the GEICO team gets the value of entertaining marketing and has wisely leveraged all types of media from traditional TV ads to YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, Twitter and Mobile to share and spread the fun, never losing sight of the underlying message that GEICO can save you money on your insurance.  They have leveraged new media platforms for both entertainment and practical services as well.  For example the GEICO Glovebox iPhone app lets you do everything from manage your account to learn how to change a tire, to find a taxi or roadside service.  Smart marketing all around.

Ringa Da Ding Ding Dingy Dong...

You have probably seen the GEICO "ringtone" commercials (see below).  Since I work at Myxer I was thrilled to see such a clever use of ringtones in a national TV ad, and at the same time I wished we could have all of GEICO's great mobile content available to the Myxer community.  Well, sometimes you get what you ask for, and I am very pleased to say that we have partnered with GEICO to offer some awesome (and free) ringtones and wallpapers for your phone.  You can guess which one I have already set as my default ringtone... it's BOSS!

Posted via email from Kiss My SASS!

Video Still Hasn't Killed The Radio Star (According to Myxer's BoomBox Report)

Survey Says... 

The latest edition of my employer Myxer's "BoomBox Report" takes a look at music and surveys 1,049 Myxer users to learn more about how they discover and listen to their tunes.  Myxer recently started offering full-track MP3's for download online and on Android phones, so it seemed like a logical time to turn up the volume on understanding user's music consumption patterns.

Discs And Discovery...

Surprisingly, 74% of the respondents said they still buy physical CD's.  When it comes to discovering new music the number one with a bullet was radio, which was also an unexpected response.  47% said they use radio to discover new music.  15% got turned on to new tunes at iTunes while Facebook, Twitter and MySpace collectively accounted for 18%.  As an avid Pandora user myself, I was surprised that only 5% of those polled opened that box for new music discovery.

You can see the full survey results and download a PDF of the report at boombox.myxer.com.

Where do you discover and buy your music?

 

Posted via email from Kiss My SASS!

A Lesson From The Court: Ya Gotta Commit!

This morning my son and I were at the gym and we decided to warm up with a game of one on one.  We hadn't played basketball together in a while and the sounds and smells of the ball and hardwood were a welcome reminder of how much I have always enjoyed playing hoops.  Considering how long it had been since I had dribbled (not counting the saliva kind of dribbling) I was pleased to be sinking a fair amount of baskets.

Swish!

As the game got into its groove I noticed that I almost always could tell if a shot was going to be good the moment the ball left my hands. I could feel it because in that instant I knew whether I had committed to the shot or not.  If I was committed, in it went.  If I was just going through the motions, however, the ball had no chance of hitting its target.  The thing is, it was easy to feel the difference between going through the motions and committing.  If it is so easy to know the difference, why would I ever just go through the motions?  Why can't I commit to every shot?

Game Theory

I realized that this applies to just about everything we do.  We can tell when we are just going through the motions.  We feel it.  We know it.  Yet we still do it.  I still do it.  What a waste.  Just as in a basketball shot, going through the motions - in anything - is rarely if ever going to lead to success.  On the other hand, if you commit, really commit - to just about anything - not only does it feel right, but it has a high probability of being a winning shot.  At one time or another we are all guilty of just going through the motions - with family, friends, relationships, business - I know I have, and I know if I am honest, I can feel the difference, just like on the court.

It Is Our Choice

I want to sink more baskets, in life and in everything I do, so I am going to try harder to commit fully to every action, large or small.  When I sense that feeling of just going through the motions I will do my best to quash it and commit instead!

How about you?

Photo Credit:© Andrew S. - Fotolia.com

Posted via email from Kiss My SASS!

Why Linkbait Generator Should Scare You More Than Osama Bin Laden

I couldn't resist.  Like the Bullshit Generators and Buzzword Generators of the not so distant past, today I discovered a new website full of "mesh mission-critical infrastructures" and seeping with "unpredictable bottom-up hierarchy."  This new website will singlehandedly catapult this very blog to the highest peaks of the blogosphere as if I were the veritable CEO of SEO himself.  Yes my faithful readers (and those of you who were drawn here for the very first time because of the truly awesome headline above), today I discovered the "Linkbait Generator" and I assure you this blog (and countless others) will never be the same.  Hat tip to my good friend CC Chapman for bringing this time wasting gem of a blog building tool to my attention.

Start fishing with your own Linkbait now! (and let this be a reminder....you can't always believe what you read in the headlines...)  

Posted via email from Kiss My SASS!

Location ROI: The Relevance of Interruption

Location, Location, Location...  

William Shakespeare once said that "all the world's a stage" and we are merely players... That 
was then and this is now.  Now all the world's a location waiting to be "checked in" to...  Our modern lives are nothing more than a growing trail of digital breadcrumbs as we actively and passively record and broadcast our every move to friends and strangers alike.  Despite the fallout over Facebook and the perils of privacy (or the lack thereof) our liberation of our location is not necessarily the epitome of evil.  There can be benefits to location awareness, if we are just aware of them.

Bring On The Marketers

Last month Jay Berkowitz invited me to speak on a "Location Super Panel" at the 2010 SFIMA Summit held at Nova University, headlined by a great Keynote by blogger, podcaster and all around mensch, Mitch Joel, of the highly regarded Agency TwistImage and author of the bestselling "Six Pixels Of Separation."  An engaging speaker, Mitch set the tone for a day of sharing and learning, and it was my pleasure to contribute a few pixels of my own.  I was asked to prepare a short presentation on location and given the influence of my own experiences and employment in the mobile content industry I gave some thought to the influence of location on mobile content and marketing.  Key points of my talk include:

• We live in a mobile world. 
• In a mobile world, location creates context.
• Context, not content, is King!
• Context creates relevance.
• Relevance determines the impact and success of marketing and advertising.
• Mobile advertising is an interruption.
• Successful Mobile advertising is gauged by the ROI: the Relevance Of Interruption.
• Location Aware Content personalizes your experience.

My slides, and a video of the presentation (courtesy of @iamjeffcohen) are embedded below.


Myxer's Jeff Sass Talks Mobile, Location & Content at the 2010 SFIMA SUMMIT from Jeffrey Sass on Vimeo.

YOU ARE HERE! Myxer's Jeff Sass at SFIMA Summit 2010
 

Do you agree with where we location is taking us?  I'd love to hear your thoughts and views in the comments.

Posted via email from Kiss My SASS!

Girls Just Wanna Have Phone! Myxer's Latest BoomBox Report

Perhaps it was seeing Cyndi Lauper getting fired on Celebrity Apprentice that made me think of this headline. In any case, according to the latest BoomBox Report from my employer Myxer, one of the ways girls are having fun is by downloading LOTS of mobile content.  According to the report:

• Women accounted for 67% of total downloads by unique users on the Myxer platform in April 2010.
• When considering adoption of new smartphones in April 2010, Myxer finds that women choose BlackBerry more often (49%) than men (43%).
• The average female downloading content, using an Android device, downloads 21% more mobile content than the average man.

Call It The womAN-DROID?

When it comes to iPhone vs. Android use, it seems the ladies on Google's platform are much more active than their male counterparts.  On iPhones, while the girls still lead, there is less of a gap between the genders.

• The average male visiting Myxer on an Android device downloaded six pieces of content in April 2010. The average female using an Android device downloaded 7.6 pieces of content - or 21% more than the average male.
• This is in contrast to iPhone handsets where women only downloaded 6% more than men. (2.8 and three pieces of content respectively)

 What do you think?  Do you agree that "Girls Just Wanna Have Phone" and are dominating when it comes to mobile downloads?  And what about Cyndi?  Was The Donald right to fire her???

You can download the complete PDF of the Myxer BoomBox Report at BoomBox.Myxer.com.

Posted via email from Kiss My SASS!